Thomas Tuchel has said Chelsea's injury crisis forced him to play Reece James in midfield against Zenit St. Petersburg.

The English fullback was deployed in midfield as N'Golo Kante, Mateo Kovacic, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Jorginho were all unavailable.

When asked whether James is likely to have a future midfield role, Tuchel said: "I expect N'Golo, Mateo, Jorgi and Ruben to start in midfield but they are all out so we had to get creative with Reecey.

"The target is to put him on the wing but we need players in midfield."